Austin Energy workers work to move underground power lines before construction starts on Austin's new central library.

Photo courtesy Austin Energy

We wrote yesterday about plans for an art wall in the emerging Seaholm District in downtown Austin, and its potential to influence development in the area. So it’s worth highlighting how those designs are only one part of the city’s plans in the area.

Earlier this month, the city released an updated map for development in the Seaholm area, highlighting projects in various stages. Some are completed, like the first phase of apartment construction off Lamar, and the Pfluger bridge extension. Others are underway, like a nearby federal courthouse. But some of the most ambitious projects are decidedly far off, including construction of Seaholm’s centerpiece, a new central library.

Speaking of that library: Austin Energy released a series of photos showing construction required to move an electricity line to make way for the library’s development. In the pictures, “construction workers are drilling a hole 40 feet deep near Lady Bird Lake off West Cesar Chavez Street to accommodate the foundation for one of two new transmission poles,” the utility writes.

Related Content

The City of Austin says it will pay up to $166,000 in costs and labor for someone to create a piece of “exterior art that is engaging for families and children” near a bridge that will become part of the Seaholm District redevelopment project.

The bridge, as you can see in the image above, will link Shoal Creek Trail to West Avenue via Second Street. The City of Austin’s Art in Public Places Project, which has been doing this kind of thing since 1985, says applicants should focus on meeting these criteria: